Mail-box.



o. E'. MENDENHALL. MAIL BOX. APPLICATION FILED 00T. 19, 1907.

Patented Oct. 13, 1908.

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f UNITED sTATEs-PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES E. MENDENHALL, OF DAYTON, OHIO.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 13, 1908.

Application filed October y19, 1907. Serial No. 398,154.. p

To all 'whom 'it may concern:

Be it knownthat I, CHARLES` E. MENDEN- iiALL,.citizen of the United States, residing at Dayton, in the county of Montgomery and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements iii Mail-Boxes; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the'letters and lfigures of reference marked thereon, which forma part of this specification.

This invention relatesvto improvements in letter boxes and possesses'the new and useful features hereinafter described and claimed.

Theobject, of the invention is to provide means for indicating the times of collections of mail and which miakes it necessaryfor the carrier or mail collector to remove the mail from each box in order to indicate `to the public the time of the next succeeding collection, or make it incumbent upon. him to render a suitable explanation to the superintendent of mails for hisjfailure to *collecty and through which the dial is shifted to' each` succeeding indicating position when the door is openedand said dial is locked from movement whenthe door is closed, all of which will be hereinafter more definitely described in connection with the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure l, is a side elevation of a mailbox having my improvements applied thereto,

parts of the box being broken away. Fig.V 2,

is a sectional view through the front portionY v of the box ata right angle to Fig. land on the line m of said view.- Fig. 3 is a view `of the key.

In a detail description of the invention, similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts. i

The outer casing 1 of the box is of the usual construction; the upper vportion of the box into which the letters are dropped is broken away as illustrated in the drawings, such portion being provided. with the usual lthe sight opening 5.

hinged .doorand owing to the common fea- The box is prothis door that the mail collectors have access to the boxin making their collections;

this door is provided with the usual hasp and padlock (not shown) and is also a well-known feature of mail boxes as commonly constructed. vThe side ofthe box is provided with a sight opening 5 immediately behind which is arranged a dial 6 jand 'the4 other mechanism coperating therewith, and all of which is inclosed by an inner casing 4l which forms a separate interior housing for said mechanism.

outer casiiigs. Arranged on the face of said dial is a series of spaces upon which the Idays of the week and the various times within twenty-four hours are' inscribed in 'sucliiposition that each inscription, in the rotation of the dial, is caused to appear at rlhe dial it will be observed, is arranged to indicate eight eollections for each day, and three collections for Sunday, and each collection has a separate tooth on the dial, or for one weeks coltion. The periphery of the dial is provided with a continuous series of ratchets 9 of uni-V .form length and ofa length corresponding tothe width vof the spaces bearing the day and time inscriptions.

10 designates a longitudinally-slidable bar mounted to slide in guides 1l attached to the side of the outer casing. The inner end of this bar is connected to a spring 12 which is `secured at one end to theinner casing and `exerts a normal pressure upon said bar, while Ithe other end of said bar is pivoted at 13 'to the upper arm 14 of a bell crank lever which is fulcrumed at l15 to the casing. At a suitable point on said bai- 10 is pivoted a ratchet pawl 16 which engages the teeth 9 on the indicating dial. rThis pawl is permitted to .swing in one'directioii but is held normally in `an operative position by a shoulder 17 vwhich engages the lower side of the bar 10.

The lower arm 18 of the bell crank lever is pivoted at 19 to a second slidable rod 20 'which moves in guides 21 attached to the inner side of the box. To thelower end of the slidable bar 20 is pivoted al link 22, the

The dial is I mounted upon and is rotatable with a hollow .spindle7 which is journaled in the inner and `lections the dial makes one complete rotal lower end of said link 22 beingV pivoted at- 23 to a side of the swinging door 2. Owing to this arrangement of connecting rod and levers, it will be readily seen that in lowering the door 2 outwardly, the slidable bar 20 will be elevated and through the bell-crank lever the pawl-'carrying bar 10 will be moved rearwardly and therewith the pawl 16 to the dotted position; this is the position of the pawl prior to a movement of the dial to its position toindicate the time of the next collection and in elevating or closingv the door 2', the pawl-eazrrying bar 10 is moved forward, the pawl 16 moving from the dotted position to the full position and moving the dial therewith. The dial is locked in each set position by the closed door through means of a slidable bolt 2i movable in a guide 25 secured to the inner side of the box and having a locking head 26 arranged in line with the ratehets 9 and adapted to engage said ratchets when the door 2 is closed. Pivoted to the outer end of the bolt 24 at 27 is a link 28 which is pivoted at 29 to a side of the door 2. IVhen the door is lowered the locking bolt 24 is moved forward to free the ratchets 9 and to permit the pawl-carrying bar 10 to rotate the dial 6 to the position to indicate the time of the next collection, and when said door is closed, the locking bolt 24 engages the ratchets and holds the dial in each set position.

30 is a detent arranged in the rear of the ratchets 9 to prevent any backward movement of the dial. The dial 6 may be rotated independently of the foregoing mechanism which has been described in detail by means of a key 81 which is insertible in the spindle 7; the key, however, can only turn the dial when the bolt 26 is withdrawn by opening the door; this means of setting the dial is utilized in installing the mail box, or at any time when. the collections of mail have been neglected by the collector, and consequently, the indication at the dial would not be correct. For example, as the dial is now set, the next collection should be made at 9-30 p. 1n. on Monday. If the collector should not make such collection for any reason, the next time he opens the box would shift the dial to the next indication and would indicate the time in which he mader such collection and would leave such indication exposed as indicating the next collect-ion which would be incorrect. In order to set the dial properly to indicate the periods of collection, the key 31 may be employed.

I claim:

1. The combination with a letter box having a sight opening in a side thereof and a door the side portions of which are movable within the box, of a dial having the times for the collections of mail inscribed thereon in positions to be indicated through the sight opening in the box, and ratchets around the periphery of said dial, a slidable bar mounted above the dial, a ratchet paw] carried on said bar and engaging the 'atchets on the dial, a bell-crank lever to which said paw]- carrying bar is connected, a slidable bar movable at right angles to the pawl-carrying bar and connected to said bell -crank lever, and a link lever pivoted to the slidable bar moving at right angles to the pawl-earrying bar, said link lever having a pivotal connection to the door of the box and whereby the pawl-carrying lever is actuated and is set to its initial position through the opening and closing of said door.

2. The combination with a letter box having a sight opening in a side thereof and a door the side portions of which are m 'able within the box, of a dial having the times for the collections of mail inscribed thereon in position to be exposed through the sight opening in the box, and ratchets around the periphery of said dial, of a pawl-carrying bar adapted to actuate said dial, a verticallyslidable bar, a bell-crank lever interposed between the pawl-carrying bar and said vertical bar, a link lever connected to said vertical bar and to the door of the mail box and whereby the pawl-carrying bar is actuated to impart to the indicating dial an ad 'ancing movement each time the door is opened. a locking bolt, and a link lever connecting said locking bolt with the door and whereby the dial is locked in each set position when the door is closed after cach collection ot mail.

3. The combination with a letter box having a sight opening in a side thereof and a door, of a collection-indicating dial provided with ratchet teeth upon its periphery and a collection indication associated with each of said ratchet teeth, a single pawl eng ging one of said ratchet teeth at a time, a slidable rod supporting said pawl, an angular lever to aetuate said bar, a slidablc bar to actuate said lever, a link connected to said lastnamed bar and to the door and through which the angular lever is actuated.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES E. MENDENHAIJL.

Viitnesses IVILsoN GJCLAGETT, MATTHEW SIEnLEn. 

